Preview: In another bowl game featuring a team out of the Southeastern Conference against a Big Ten foe – the Mississippi State Bulldogs will take on the Michigan Wolverines. This game is in Jacksonville, Florida as part of the Gator Bowl.

The game will take place on New Years Day. The Bulldogs come into the game with an 8-4 record. They ended the season with a thrilling win over rival Mississippi to end with eight wins. The four losses for the Bulldogs this season came against Auburn, LSU, Alabama and Arkansas – all ranked teams. Mississippi State, led by Dan Mullen went 5-7 last season, so getting back to a bowl game was a goal at the beginning of the season. The Bulldogs have the third best run defense in the SEC; allowing just 121.7 yards on the ground per game. Offensively, the Bulldogs love to run the football. During the regular season, Mississippi State rushed for 215.8 yards per game, anchored by Vick Ballard. Ballard ran for 16 touchdowns and 862 yards, while quarterback Chris Relf added over 650 yards and four touchdowns.

Running the football is exactly what Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson does best. An early candidate for Heisman fell on hard times late in the season as the Wolverines struggled. Michigan’s defense was the second worst in the Big Ten against the run, allowing nearly 190 yards per game. This is the first winning season for Rich Rodriguez in his third year at Michigan. The Wolverines finished the regular season with back-to-back losses to Wisconsin and Ohio State. In those two games, Michigan was out scored by a combined 85-35. Rich Rodriguez may be able to keep his job after this game.

As Bulldog fan, I hate to say it, but I think Michigan takes this one. They were hindered by injuries during the regular season, but appear to be healthy now. My dogs were lucky to get invited to this bowl as the fifth-place team in the SEC West. Some prognosticators point to our close loss to Auburn as a positive, but that was very early in the season, and Auburn is a much improved team since then.